Osho on Creativity
You can surpass yourself by being in contact consciously with nature. And that is the essence of wisdom — to be in harmony with nature, with the natural rhythm of the universe. And whenever you are in harmony with the natural rhythm of the universe you are a poet, you are a painter, you are a musician, you are a dancer.
Try it. Some time sitting by the side of a tree, fall in tune consciously. Become one with nature; let boundaries dissolve. Become the tree, become the grass, become the wind — and suddenly you will see, something that has never happened to you before is happening. Your eyes are becoming psychedelic: trees are greener than they have ever been, and roses are rosier, and everything seems to be luminous. And suddenly you want to sing a song, not knowing from where it comes. Your feet are ready to dance; you can feel the dance murmuring inside your veins, you can hear the sound of music within and without. This is the state of creativity. This can be called the basic quality: being in harmony with nature, being in tune with life, with the universe.
Lao Tzu has given it a beautiful name, WEI-WU-WEI: action through inaction. You can call it “creative quietude” — a process that combines within a single individual two seeming incompatibles: supreme activity and supreme relaxation. That’s the paradox of creativity. If you see a painter painting, certainly he is active, utterly active, madly active — he is all action. Or if you see a dander dancing, he is all action. But still, deep down there is no actor, no doer; there is only silence. Hence I called creativity the state of paradox. All beautiful states are paradoxical. The higher you go, the deeper you go into the paradox of reality.
Supreme action with supreme relaxation: on the surface great action is happening, in the depth nothing is happening, or ONLY nothing is happening. Creative quietude is the supreme action — the precious suppleness, simplicity, spontaneity and freedom that flows from us, or rather through us, when our private egos and conscious efforts yield to a power not their own. Yielding to a power not of your own, surrendering to a power that is beyond you, is creativity. Meditation is creativity.
And when the ego disappears, the wound in you disappears; you are healed, you are whole. The ego is your disease. And when the ego disappears you are no more dormant, you start flowing. You start flowing with the immense flow of existence. Norbert Weiner has said, “We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves; whirlpools of water in an ever-flowing river.” Then you are not an ego but an event or a process of events. Then you are a process, not a thing. Consciousness is not a thing, it is a process; and we have made it a thing. The moment you call it “I” it becomes a thing — defined, bounded, dormant, stagnant. And you start dying. The ego is your death. And the death of the ego is the beginning of your real life. And real life is creativity.
You need not go to any school to learn creativity. All that you need is to go withinwards and help the ego dissolve. Don’t support it, don’t go on strengthening and nourishing it. And whenever the ego is not, all is truth, all is beautiful. And then whatsoever happens is good. And I am not saying that you all will become Picassos or Shakespeares, I am not saying that. A few of you will become painters, a few of you will become singers, a few of you will become musicians, a few of you dancers — but that is not the point. Each of you will become creative in his own way. You may be a cook, but then there will be creativity. Or you may be just a cleaner, but then there will be creativity. There will be no boredom.
You will become inventive in small things. Even in cleaning there will be a kind of worship, a prayer. So whatsoever you do then will have the taste of creativity. And we don’t need many painters — if all turn out to be painters, life will become very difficult. We don’t need many poets; we need gardeners too, we need farmers too, and we need all kinds of people. But each person can be creative. If he is meditative and egoless then God starts flowing through him. According to his capacities, according to his potential, God starts taking forms.
And then all is good. You need not become famous. A really creative person does not care a bit about becoming famous; there is no need. He is so tremendously fulfilled in whatsoever he is doing, he is so content with whatsoever he is and wherever he is, that there is no question of desire. When you are creative, desires disappear. When you are creative, ambitions disappear. When you are creative, you are already that which you always wanted to be.
Source:
Listen to complete discourse at mentioned below link.
Discourse Series: Unio Mystica, Vol 1 Chapter #6
Question 1
Chapter title: The Bridge of Love and Laughter
6 November 1978 am in Buddha Hall
References:
Osho has spoken on ‘Creativity’ in many of His discourses. More on the subject can be referred to in the following books/discourse titles:
- The Book of Wisdom
- The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
- From Unconciousness to Consciousness
- The Path of Love
- Sat Chit Anand
- Tao: The Three Treasures, Vol 2
